Hunger Games Creating An Army of New Archers

According to an article posted to Jezebel, signs point to a massive surge of new archers thanks to the blockbuster smash The Hunger Games:

Now, in the wake of the juggernaut Hunger Games movie, people are lining up to learn how to handle a bow and arrow, just like the film’s hero, Katniss Everdeen.

The Daily Newsreports that New York’s two archery ranges — both located in Queens — have noted as much as a 75 percent spike in traffic since buzz about The Hunger Games started tickling the earlobes of fans of the Suzanne Collins books.

Joe McGlyn, owner of Pro-Line Archery, has said that 18-30-year-old fans of the series have been coming to his Ozone Park range for the last four months, much to the consternation of Ozone Park regular Jack Denley who says that now he has to arrive at the range super early just to pluck his bow. Posers, man.

Denley is actually happy to see that archery is generating more interesting, especially, he notes, among younger people like his daughters Bridgette (11) and Katelyn (10). “It’s exciting to see that kids are getting involved, which is great,” Denley says.

Even if this is a temporary spike, the fact that young people in urban areas are picking up bows and finding the joy of archery is great news for the hunting and shooting sports. Personally, I’m excited to see if this translates to the National Archery in the Schools Program, which does a lot of great work for the sport of archery by putting bows into our schools.

— If you have a youngster who is showing an interest in archery, check out this bow. At just $15, it’s a great investment to gauge that interest level. Plus, it kind of looks like Katniss Everdeen‘s model.